Young Enthusiasts Take Center Stage Friday at Spring Carlisle (PA)

CARLISLE, Pa. - April 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Spring Carlisle has taken place annually since 1977, meaning the show itself has a strong history and following.  The nearly 100,000 enthusiasts who converge on Carlisle have been involved within the automotive scene for decades and come to further a restoration project or add to a collection.  In recent years and with an aging audience, Carlisle Events has worked diligently to include a new generation of enthusiast as a compliment to the past and present who are already onsite.  This year's Spring Carlisle weekend, April 24-28 at the Carlisle PA Fairgrounds welcomes, for the second time (third overall), the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow engine challenge and dozens of high-school-age students, the future of the automotive hobby.

The Hot Rodders of Tomorrow has been working with young enthusiasts since 2008 and the purpose of the company varies.  First and foremost, HROT works to development today's youth for the race and performance industry.  HROT also gives students the opportunity to display their talents and knowledge gained during classroom sessions and workshops.  It also provides opportunities for students to build and develop teamwork, demonstrate their skills, enthusiasm and showcase their ingenuity.  Instructors are also able to grow enthusiasm in their school auto tech programs and promote the auto industry to the general public in a new and exciting way.

As part of the Friday-only competition at Carlisle, nearly a dozen teams from local and regional schools will compete to tear down and reassemble a Chevy small block engine as quickly and accurately as possible.  While time is key during a competition run, accuracy is more important.  For example, if team A is done first, they could still be assessed penalty time and ultimately finish behind Team B, despite the perception that they were done minutes before their competition.  A watchful eye of expert judges tally all aspects of the event and once both teams have completed their run, converge to add or subtract time based on overall performance.  The winning team at Carlisle and other regional competitions across the country advance to the finals, held this year in December at the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis.  Best of all, each student who competes at Carlisle, no matter their place of finish, earns scholarship money that can be used at select institutions of higher education.

"Hot Rodders of Tomorrow is an exciting event where automotive students get to compete as a team," said Rodney Bingham, President of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow.  "By working as a team, they are taught and learn the skills they would need to rebuild an engine while earning scholarships to further their automotive career.”  Bingham continued, "When my dad and I started HROT some years back, we did so out of a concern for the future of the automotive hobby.  We saw a lot of age represented at events and wanted to be sure it had more youth involved to be sure that we can keep this great hobby alive."

The following schools are committed for Spring Carlisle; however, the competition list is subject to change:  Burton Center for Arts & Technology (Salem, Virginia), Franklin County Career and Technology Center (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), York County School of Technology (York, Pennsylvania), Huntingdon County Career & Technology Center (Mill Creek, Pennsylvania) and Thomas County Central High School (Thomasville, Georgia).